This chapter begins with Isaac feeling his advanced age. He is going blind and he feels like he’s at the end of his life. He tells his oldest son Esau to go out into the field and hunt for game so he can bless him. 

Rebekah overhears him and rushes over to her favorite son Jacob and tells him to quickly cook up some meat and take it to his father and get a blessing. She also has him wear his brother’s clothes and put goat skin on his forearms to emulate the smell and feel of his brother. 

The trick works and Isaac gives a blessing of prosperity and leadership to Jacob that he intended to give to Esau. 

Moments after Jacob leaves, Esau shows up with his offering. Isacc realizes that he has been tricked and tells his son that he has already given away his blessing. Esau begs his father to give him a blessing as well, but his father gives him a curse of hardship and strife. This makes Esau full of rage towards his brother. He vows to kill him. 

Rebekah overhears this exchange and tells Jacob to pack up and leave. He does. 

Meanwhile, Esau’s two Hittite wives Judith and Basemath continue to annoying Rebekah. There are foreign wives of her least favorite son, so they may never have had a fair chance. 

Reading this section makes me realize again how playing favorites tears apart family. Esau and Jacob are pawns in their parents power-play. Isaac preferred the hunter and Rebekah preferred the cook. As a parent, it’s easy to favor the kid that takes after you, but it’s not a good way to behave. 

God had blessings for both Ishmael and Isaac when Abraham had two sons by Sarah and Hagar. There’s no reason for Isaac to be stingy with his words, except perhaps his own pride being stung for being gullible. 

Jealousy between Esau and Jacob is also reminiscent of the tension between Cain and Abel in chapter four.  Without a cooling off period, that ended very badly.